by Lisa Sanchez
I was fairly certain Ronald was a member of the 40-watt club, and lacked the brain capacity to realize he could mess with my food and beverage, but I really didn’t want to take that chance. I knew she was right, and resolved to do my very best not to scare the tar out of the poor boy every chance I got. Crap. Trips to the coffee house were going to be a lot less fun, that was for sure. I picked up the last piece of my croissant and popped it into my mouth, disappointed that there was none left.
“So…you never answered my question,” Jessica prodded in a much softer tone. “Vampires can use magic?”
I sighed. Girlfriend was tenacious. If I didn’t give her something to chew on, she’d never let it go. “I’ve been told there are those that have magical abilities, but up until last night, I’d never come across one,” I lied. My mind wandered briefly back to the conversation I had with my mother the night she was murdered.
One of Lucian’s strengths is the ability to sense others’ power. He’s very attuned to our family’s magic.
A shiver shot up my spine at the thought of my mortal enemy. On top of being a soul sucking, life-ending monstrosity, he also possessed the ability to wield magic. If he was powerful enough to take out my mother, I knew my quest to destroy him was going to be difficult. I hated lying to my friend about what I knew, but I didn’t see any way around it. The less she knew about my dark past, the better.
“Good morning, ladies.”
I looked over my shoulder to see Peter, the friendly bossman of the coffee house. He stood to my right, a bright red Santa hat on his bald head, a newspaper under his arm and hands full of empty coffee cups. Tall, with a medium-sized belly and a friendly smile, Peter was just a good guy all around.
“Morning, Peter,” Jessica said with a smile, while I greeted him with a small wave.
“Is there anything else I can get either one of you? Peppermint hot chocolate, maybe? It’s our holiday special.”
With all that had happened in the last week, I’d forgotten Christmas was fast approaching. Vampire attacks and mysterious undead bartenders tended to suck the holiday spirit right out of me.
I held up my empty cup, and Jess shook her head and smiled.
“Paper?” He motioned to the large stack of papers under his arm with a nod of his head.
“Sure,” I said, reaching up and freeing him of the newsprint he was unable to hand me, as his hands were full.
With a nod and another smile, Peter sauntered off behind the counter, leaving Jess and me alone once more.
A sick feeling of dread covered me the moment I unfolded the paper and read the front-page news. “Oh, for the love…criminy,” I muttered under my breath with a frown. “This is why I never read the paper. So I can avoid seeing disturbing shit like this.”
Jess leaned forward, her eyes narrowed. “What?”
“A student’s gone missing. Listen to this,” I said and read the fine print aloud. “College senior, Deanna Foster, was reported missing after a night out with friends. Deanna was last seen exiting local nightclub, Fire and Ice, Friday night with a dark haired, twenty-something male.” My eyes darted further down the page, taking in the pictures that accompanied the article. “Oh,” I exclaimed. “It’s Nasty Betty’s friend.”
I shoved the paper toward Jessica and pointed to a picture of Betty (or Edie, as the paper showed her name to be) and her minions posing outside the club. Alongside that picture was one of her missing friend, a petite brunette with a friendly smile.
Jessica continued reading aloud where I left off. “Local heiress, Edie Van Walldenberg, was overcome with grief upon discovering her good friend, Deanna, was missing. She was quoted as saying, ‘I just can’t imagine what kind of monster would do something like this.’”
I rolled my eyes but kept my trap shut. I could imagine plenty of monsters that would steal away innocent women, and do much more, for that matter. Whoever, or should I say, whatever took her, probably bled her dry and dumped the body somewhere where it wouldn’t be found. Not wanting to scare Jessica even further, I kept my guesswork to myself.
Jessica looked up from the paper, eyebrows knit together in shock, clearly distressed by what she read. “Oh, God. Do you think it was a vampire that took her?” She dropped the paper onto the table like it was the spawn of Satan.
I pursed my lips and shrugged. “Given what happened with Taylor, I’d say it’s very likely. Vamps usually frequent bars and nightclubs looking for food, more often than not, bringing it back to their coven to share. My bartender vamp took out two of the local undead last week, but who’s to say there weren’t more trolling around looking for a meal?” As much as I disliked Betty and her band of minions, I certainly didn’t want to see any of them wind up as a midnight snack.
Jessica paled, her vibrant blue eyes darkening as they filled with horror. “She’s probably already dead. Isn’t she?”
I stared at her, stone-faced and unwilling to confirm her suspicion. I hated being the bearer of bad news. Besides, it wasn’t like I knew for sure if the poor girl had been slaughtered. For all anyone knew, Deanna could have found the man of her dreams and gone off for a fun filled week of boozing and horizontal refreshment. Things didn’t always have to take a morbid turn. Well, at least I hoped they didn’t. God, I hoped they didn’t.
Jessica waved at hand in front of my face. “Martha? I’m right, aren’t I? She’s dead.” She sat back in her seat, her pale skin nearly translucent. “I don’t know if I can deal with all…this,” she said, pointing to the newspaper. “Vampires, demons, faeries…” She sat rigid in her seat, shaking for a moment, unable to get the words out as she was so overcome with emotion. “God…” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Ignorance is bliss, as far as I’m concerned.”
I frowned. That was most definitely the wrong thing to say. After a quick glance around to make sure we were free of eavesdroppers, I leaned forward and let her have it. “Don’t talk like that. It’s better to know what’s out there so you can make smart choices and know what to avoid. Case in point…last week. You can’t just go off with any old Tom, Dick, or Harry at a club. You never know if your handsome Dan will turn out to be more than what he seems. Better to let me have a look at ’em before you let anyone take you anywhere.”
Oh, boy. I was on a damn roll. I leaned forward even further and jabbed a finger through the air just under Jess’s nose. “This brings me to another point. Why would you or Taylor, or any girl for that matter, willingly go off, alone, with a stranger? I don’t care how good looking the guy is, just because he’s human doesn’t mean he’s not a total creep!”
Unphased by my mini tantrum, Jessica smiled at me and rolled her eyes. “You really are green when it comes to dating and men, aren’t you? Have you ever really been attracted to anyone before, Martha? I mean, really attracted. Like weak-in-the-knees, can’t-catch-your-breath-because-he’s-so-damn-gorgeous, you-can’t-think-about-anything-but-having-your-lips-on-him attracted?”
The shmexy bartender vamp’s face flashed behind my eyes as I sat, silently shaking my head. I wasn’t about to admit he had me weak in the knees, or that his intense gaze nearly sent my heart into cardiac arrest. Paramedics! We need a crash cart here! Charging to three hundred…Clear! Hell, no. I’d never cop to harboring an attraction for the enemy. Moreover, I wouldn’t have gone off with him, alone. At least, that’s what I was going to keep telling myself anyway.
Jess relaxed into her seat and shook her head. “Ah, Martha, Martha, Martha.” She heaved a theatrical sigh, then began speaking like a Kung Fu master. “My little grasshopper. Soon. Soon, I will teach you the ancient art of flirting, and you will no longer be a virgin to the ways of love.”
Ha, ha. Someone thought they were funny. I balled up my napkin and chucked it forcefully at her face. Girlfriend had lost her ever lovin’ mind. “Whatever, skank. God!” I sat back in my seat and crossed my arms, contemplating wha
t I knew I had to do. My conscience demanded action, even though I knew it would cause me nothing but grief. “This day is totally going to take a turn toward the crapper,” I grumbled.
Jessica peeled the napkin from where it had fallen into her lap and chucked it onto the table. “Why do you say that?”
“Because,” I said, grimacing, “I can help find Deanna. Or at least what’s left of her. All I need is something personal of hers, and I can scry for her location. This unfortunately means I’m going to have to pay a visit to my favorite person, Nasty Betty.”
***
After a quick trip back to the apartment to retrieve a still spooked Taylor, we headed over to Greek row, the hoity-toity, vomitous area of town where Edie Van Walldenberg made her home.
Surrounded by large oak trees, with ivy crawling up the western side of the house, and a lush garden in front, the Delta Phi Nu sorority house was reminiscent of one of the Barbie Dream Houses I used to play with as a child. All it needed was a hot single guy named Ken to come waltzing out the front door to be complete.
“Hot diggety! Would you look at that,” Taylor exclaimed, her eyes devouring the perfectly muscled-up frat boy who exited the house.
I’d obviously spoken too soon. Humph! Ken!
“Come on, then. Let’s get this over with.” With an eye roll and a huff, I exited the vehicle, which sat parked behind a local news van that looked to be filming just outside of the sorority house. Missing sorority girls made for hot news stories, and the local station wasted no time in tapping in on the hype. A local newscaster stood jabbering away on the front lawn, wearing enough hairspray and product in his hair that if a tornado blew through his coif would be the only thing left standing. Sidestepping the camera crew, we walked up to the entrance and in through the open front door.
Just like its exterior, the inside of the Delta house was bathed in Pepto Bismol pink, from the walls to the dozens of flowers flanking the end tables and the drapery. The carpeting and furniture were a shocking white in contrast. I grimaced. The house was sickly sweet looking and way too girly for my taste. All that was needed was a life-sized tub of frosting and the place could have doubled for Candy Land.
Queen Frostine (Edie Van Walldenberg) sat in the center of one of the couches, surrounded by several of her carbon-copied sycophants.
She cut off one of her loyal followers mid-sentence with a sharp wave of the hand the moment she saw me. Her eyes narrowed into thin slits, making her already pinched face appear even more sour. “What the hell are you doing here?” Her nasally voice took on a high-pitched screeching tone, and she scowled at me like it was her main reason for living. “After the week I’ve had, the last thing I want to look at is your face.”
Bitch…
I bit my tongue and kept my trap shut. Hell, I didn’t really want to be looking at her face either, yet there I was, being the bigger person. Great-Grandma would’ve been proud. Reining in my temper, I took a deep breath and somehow held it together. I couldn’t help find Deanna if I got into a smack down with Queen-Bitch-Of-The-Year.
“We’re here to help,” I said calmly through gritted teeth. What I really wanted to say was something more along the lines of, “How ’bout you shut your pie hole for two seconds and give me a break. I’m here to help your friend, poser.” Yeah…it was a good thing I’d reined myself in.
Edie raised a sculpted brow and sneered. “And just how do you plan on helping?” She latched onto a throw pillow, hugging it tightly. Dressed in a pair of black yoga pants and a strappy tank, Edie looked beat up from the feet up. Her red, puffy eyes sagged, making it obvious she hadn’t been sleeping. Despite the fact she was mean as hell to me, it was slightly comforting to see her grieving for her missing friend. Maybe she wasn’t a complete and total bitch after all. “Do you have a staring problem, freak? Quit looking at me.”
Taylor stepped forward with a gasp. “Why don’t you drop the tude,” she said, shooting her the evil eye. “God! What’s your damage, anyway? We’re offering to help find your missing friend. Martha’s special. She can — ”
“Taylor.” I interrupted her before she went any further. I shook my head, letting her know she needed to zip it. Nasty Betty didn’t need to know the intimate details of my magical abilities. Haughty, rude, and, no doubt, disbelieving, she’d likely use anything Taylor said as ammunition to blast me with. She did a fine job bashing me on her own without help from anyone else.
Edie swiped a stray lock of blond hair out of her bloodshot eyes and sniffled. “What? She can what? Be a freak?”
Yep, total bitch. Guess I was wrong.
I rolled my eyes, groaning inwardly. Evidently, Edie thought herself too good for my help. Whatever…I didn’t need her. I’d find another way to get what I needed. Hag…
“Forget it, Taylor. Let’s just go.” I turned on my heels and strode toward the front door, needing to put as much space between Edie and myself as possible. If I hung around any longer I was liable to lose it and turn her into a toad. Neither my conscience nor my oath would allow that, so getting the heck outta Dodge seemed the best idea all around. I lingered at the door for a split second, wondering where the hell Jessica was. She’d been missing since well before my snipe-fest with Edie.
After a final glance back at Edie, I hot footed it out of the house, desperate for some fresh air.
“What a total beeyotch,” Taylor said, trailing a few feet behind me. She muttered nice and low so only I could hear her. “That one’s got her grundies in a knot.”
My lip curled up into a smirk. I had a good idea of what “grundies” stood for in Australian slang. We passed Tornado Hair and his television crew entourage once again on our way back to the car. Seriously, that ’do would withstand a nuclear holocaust.
Unhappy I’d come away empty-handed, I chewed on the inside of my lip trying to figure out where to go from there. I’d just have to find another way to get my hands on something of Deanna’s. How I was going to go about doing that remained a mystery.
Thankful we’d left the car unlocked, I gripped the handle and yanked the door open.
“Hey…wait!”
I turned and saw Jessica high-tailing it out of the house and down the walkway, sporting a satisfied grin.
“Where’d you go?” I asked, slipping into the front passenger seat of the car, while Taylor climbed into the back.
Jessica flashed me a smug grin and held up a blue hairbrush. “I took a little tour of Delta house while you were chatting with Miss Snag Hag. And wouldn’t you know it, I ended up in our missing girl, Deanna’s, room. I figured something she used every day would work best. Was I right?” She handed me the brush and then walked around to the driver side door.
“Yep. This will work perfectly,” I said, smiling back at her as she climbed into the vehicle. By snooping around and snatching Deanna’s brush, Jess had solved the problem of how to locate our missing girl. I was all kinds of proud.
Jess placed the key into the ignition and smiled. “All right, then. You totally owe me, cuz I am so the shizz.”
Chapter 4
“She’s still at the club,” I said, having located Deanna on the map that lay before me. I sat back against the edge of my bed with a sigh and tucked the crystal necklace I used to scry with safely into my shirt. Something strange was up. The police went through Fire and Ice with a fine-toothed comb and came up empty. Deanna Foster’s body, whether alive or dead, had not been at the nightclub during the search. At least not anywhere Hanaford Park’s police department had looked.
Taylor scrunched up her face and held up a hand. “Hold up. I’m confused. The police didn’t find her, and they searched the place thoroughly. Maybe she’s not ten feet under. Maybe she took off on a mini vay-cay with one of the bartenders and came back today.”
Leave it to Taylor to see the brighter side of things. Her brain didn’t automatically assume the
worst in situations, and that was one of the things I loved most about her. She was a silver lining kind of girl. I, on the other hand, was not. “Or maybe someone moved her body around to keep it hidden.”
Taylor’s jaw dropped, shocked by my stubborn realism. “God, Martha. Hopeful much? Don’t you think there’s any chance that she’s still alive?”
I didn’t have the heart to answer her and kept quiet.
Jessica pushed off the carpet and began pacing back and forth. “Well…if she’s still at the club, then that means whoever took her hid her in a place they knew the cops wouldn’t find her.” Jessica leaned more toward my type of thinking. She didn’t take things at face value and she wasn’t the most trusting of people. The expression she wore said it all. She thought Deanna was dead and gone, just like I did.
“I think you’re right.” I snatched up the map along with Deanna’s blue hairbrush. I stood up from where I’d been sitting, and walked over to my desk to retrieve my bag. After placing the map and brush inside and making sure Chuck was within easy reach, I slung it over my neck and opposite shoulder.
“So what are we going to do?” Jessica asked. She walked over to the edge of my bed, sat down, ran her hands through her shoulder length hair, and sighed. Having her support meant a lot to me, but there was no way in hell I was letting her get caught up in this mess. Our little jaunt to Sorority Row was her last stop. I’d hunt for Deanna by myself.
“We,” I said, circling my hand around in front of me, “aren’t going to do anything. I, on the other hand, am going down to the club to look around.”
Jessica shot off the bed and glared at me with arms crossed. “There is no way I’m letting you go by yourself.” She threw her arms up in frustration. “And besides, it doesn’t open until later tonight. How do you expect to get in?”
Clearly, the stress from the situation had muddled her brain. “Um…hello? Have you forgotten who you’re talking to?” I flicked my wrist, and Jessica found herself floating two feet off the floor. I gave her a pointed stare. “I think I’ll manage just fine.”
